Anheuser-Busch has helped disaster victims since 1906, when Adolphus Busch donated funds to help San Francisco earthquake victims. When disasters strike, Anheuser-Busch and the Anheuser-Busch Foundation are ready to be part of the recovery by providing a helping hand to our friends in their time of need.
FRESH DRINKING WATER
Since 1988, Anheuser-Busch
has packaged more than 67.5 million cans of fresh drinking water and donated it to emergency relief organizations
following natural disasters.
When hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, Anheuser-Busch was ready to meet the victims’ most basic need – safe, pure drinking water. The company and its breweries stepped up, supplying 9.4 million cans of drinking water to relief agencies.
Most recently, following the destruction brought on by storms and flooding in New York and Georgia in 2009, Anheuser-Busch and its local wholesalers provided fresh drinking water to residents in Gowanda and Silver Creek, N.Y. and Chattooga County, Ga. More than 3,600 cases – approximately 86,000 cans – of fresh drinking water were distributed in those communities through local emergency services.
READY RATING PROGRAM
The American
Red Cross launched a one-of-a-kind program in 2009 to help both schools and businesses in 16 U.S. cities with their
emergency planning and preparedness efforts. Schools and businesses can face a number of emergencies that threaten
to disrupt their operations, including natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods and wildfires.
The Red Cross Ready Rating program offers free memberships to businesses and schools, which can use an online checklist to measure their current preparedness. Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. was the founding sponsor of the program and the first company to implement it.
The Red Cross rolled out Ready Rating to 16 other cities as a result of a $2.1 million grant from Anheuser-Busch. The program has started running in New Orleans, Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Raleigh, N.C., and Chicago, with eight additional cities to be added early next year, including Boston; Houston; Denver; Hartford, Conn.; Columbus, Ohio; Bismarck, N.D.; San Jose; and Portland, Ore. More information about the program can be found at www.ReadyRating.org.